This invention relates to improved permanent pleats for draw drapes and more particularly to draw drapes containing a multiplicity of said pleats.
Draw drapes, as employed for decorative purposes and controllable concealment of areas or passages, generally consist of a flexible sheet structure of fabric or film having a stiffened border known as a "heading" contiguous to the upper edge. The heading accommodates means such as hooks whereby the drape can be suspended from a draw rod or equivalent rigid track mechanism capable of slideably adjusting the drape horizontally to a drawn, compactly folded state known as the "stacked" condition, or to its straightened, extended length.
Because the drapery is intended to have a pleasing appearance, particularly in its extended state, it is provided with pleats in the heading which have a distinctive appearance and cause formation of uniform vertical undulations extending the height of the drape. The undulations present an appearance of depth and natural fullness which is absent in a totally flat fabric. The pleats also serve as anchor sites for the hooks which engage with the draw rod.
In the case of large or heavy draperies, the pleats must be sufficiently strong to retain their configuration after long periods of time, and must contain some stress-resistant means for engagement with a drapery hook. Unlike fixed draperies or curtains which may be supported along their entire upper length by a curtain rod or similar means, draw drapes can be supported only at spaced points along the heading in order to permit the intervening portion of the heading to buckle and fold away from the draw rod during stacking. Considerable stresses therefore accumulate at these points, not only from the weight of the hanging drapery, but from laterally imposed forces applied during the drawing of the drapery. Since both sides of a draw drape are exposed to view in many instances, it is important that the rear side of the heading possess a reasonably neat appearance.
Pleats or pleat assemblies are generally made by forming a sharply defined fold or group of several closely spaced folds in the heading, and preserving the folds by sewing or other means. A multitude of such pleats are uniformly spaced along the heading. The size of the folds of the pleats and their spacing is generally such as to produce a pleated heading having about half the length of the initial unpleated heading. The drapery supporting hooks, usually S-shaped wires pointed at one end, generally engage the rear of the pleats.
Several well known types of pleats are recognized, such as the pinch, box and cartridge styles, each fabricated by a specialized method and having a distinct appearance. For example, a pinch pleat, also known as a French pleat, is made by first forming a vertically oriented loop protruding toward the face of the drape and extending the height of the heading. The loop is then sewn closed at its base and fashioned into three smaller loops or folds by gathering and shaping the protruding fabric and pushing it back toward the rear of the drapery. The center loop, at its rear-most extremity, is bounded by two bends, sometimes referred to as bights. The three loops are joined or pinched together by sewing in a direction perpendicular to the face of the drape just below the heading, forming a seam, generally called a bar tacking, which stabilizes the folded structure. Because the center loop is not attached at its bottom, and the three loops are secured laterally at one point, the appearance is that of three loops beginning at the top of the drapery, converging just below the heading, and diverging and leading into the undulations of the body of the drapery. Although the bights are sharply defined near the bar tacking, they are diffuse near the upper portion of the heading.
A box pleat is made by initially forming a vertically sewn loop, as in the case of the pinch pleat. The loop is then flattened against the heading, as by pressing, and the top and bottom portions of the flattened loop are horizontally sewn to the heading. A cartridge pleat is similar to a box pleat, but instead of being flattened, the loop remains in its full, protruding configuration.
The use of sewing techniques in fabricating pleats is slow and costly. Also, in the case of large pleats, sewing does not provide adequate stiffness for shape retention. Faster techniques for making pleats are desirable, and may involve stamping-type operations whereby a pleat-making means repeatedly acts upon the heading of a drapery run horizontally past the pleat-making unit. In order, however, for a pleat to be amenable to fabrication by fast automated methods such as a stamping technique, special innovations must be made in the design of the pleat itself. For example, pinch pleats containing a bar tacking are not readily amenable to fabrication by a simple stamping method.
The present invention is concerned with a pleat which may be described as a straight uniform pleat. It may have 1, 2, or 3 parallel folds or loops, each of uniform height. Unlike the pinch pleat described above, each loop is separately anchored along its base or bight and the loops do not require the bar tacking for structural stabilization. Anchoring of the loops is achieved by regions of cohesive bonding which impart strength and dimensional stability to the pleat.
Straight uniform pleats have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,551 to Bender and U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,890 to Cramer. The Bender disclosure concerns a curtain structure mounted in fixed position on a curtain rod extending through a channel associated with the heading. The channel is formed by a thermal bonding of a continuous backing strip to the rear of the heading. The pleats are formed in the heading by attachment of each loop along portions of its base to said backing strip. In view of the continuous nature of the backing strip, and the mode of engagement with a support rod, the Bender curtain cannot function as a draw drape.
Because of the incomplete attachment of the loops to the backing, the pleats of Bender sacrifice strength and dimensional stability. Likewise, use of drapery support hooks would not be feasible with the pleats of Bender because of said incomplete attachment of the loops and the absence of a reinforcing member which could endure the stresses caused by the suspended weight of the drapery.
The Cramer patent discloses the formation of parallel multifold pleats in a draw drape by means of adhesives which attach the bights of the loops to a backing strip and join the loops together laterally on the front face of the drapery. The use of a drapery hook in association with such pleats is difficult because of the presence of the adhesive and the tight compaction of the loops. Such pleats are also unusually stiff, and because of the adhesive composition may not survive aging or cleaning or laundering operations.
Further techniques for stabilizing the configuration of pleats have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,717 to Kalder and U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,686 to Judovits. Such constructions however, are not amenable to fabrication by a stamping method, and involve incorporation of specially shaped rigid devices. For reasons of economy, it is preferable to avoid the need for specially shaped devices, and instead to fabricate the pleat entirely from flat materials such as fabric and film generally available for use in the manufacture of drapery.
Additional discussion of background technology may be found in the attached Prior Art Statement which is hereby made a part of this specification.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a draw drape containing pleats comprised of one, two or three straight uniform loops and capable of engaging with a hook for the suspension of said drape. It is another object to provide a draw drape containing a number of equally spaced dimensionally stable pleats in the heading thereof, each pleat capable of engaging with a piercing type of S-hook for the suspension of said drape and comprised of one or more vertically oriented loops traversing the height of the heading and being unattached to each other. It is a further object of this invention to provide a draw drape containing pleats comprised of uniform parallel loops having continuous sharply defined bights, said pleats being capable of engaging with a hook for the suspension of said drape and being amenable to formation by a stamping method. It is a still further object to provide a draw drape containing a multiplicity of pleats uniformly spaced within a heading border, said pleats being of cohesively integral construction fabricated from sheet materials and capable of being penetrated from the rear by the sharpened end of an S-shaped supporting hook. Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.